His team are now two points behind fourth-bottom Norwich and one behind rivals Sunderland, who have a game in hand.

Media playback is not supported on this device

Newcastle have more belief now – Rafael Benitez

‘Benitez leaves players out for a reason’

Shearer, who scored a record 206 goals for Newcastle over 10 seasons, said Benitez had changed the mood around St James’ Park.

“Certainly on Tuesday’s evidence and on Saturday’s, there’s now a togetherness,” said Shearer. “The fans appreciate now that the players are giving everything.”

Shearer said Newcastle had “given themselves an opportunity” and praised Benitez for his team selections.

“He’s changed it and he deserves credit for that,” said Shearer.

“It’s taken him a while to understand his players, but he’s left big players out. Aleksandar Mitrovic is out, Jonjo Shelvey is out. They’re out for a reason. They’ve not given enough to the team.

‘We can beat anyone’

Benitez, who takes his side to former team Liverpool on Saturday before the Reds’ Europa League semi-final at Villarreal the following Thursday, said: “We have to try to win every game, it doesn’t matter where.

“My connection with Liverpool is obvious, it’s quite good, but hopefully they will do really well in the Europa League and we can get three points in the Premier League.

“At the moment, it’s true that we are doing well, so hopefully the game away against a very good team like Liverpool, we can see the same things. But you never know.

“What we have is belief,” the Spaniard added. “We believe now that we can fight, we can beat anyone and in the next games, we have to show that.”